CPRR Discussion Group

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Tulare vs. Los Angeles roundhouses

...If you have seen the original (or a better copy) of the
Tulare library picture are there any details in it which distinguish it
from the similar looking LA roundhouse?

Earlier, Kyle Wyatt wrote:

...The picture could be Tulare, but the tell-tale trees make me think we are
looking at LA.

From: "John Sweetser" Hsweetser@aol.com

Most likely, the photo on the San Joaquin Valley Digitization Project
website is of the Tulare roundhouse. Here is why I think so:

At Tulare, the SP extensively planted eucalyptus trees around the roundhouse
and shops, so much so that the area was often called "the grove" in early
newspapers. For example, the May 30, 1892 Tulare Daily Evening Register,
telling of the former Tulare SP workers who had to move to Bakersfield when
the shops were transferred there from Tulare in 1891, stated: "...they miss
the fine grove under whose shade they worked at Tulare instead of under a
boiling sun."

Notice that in the San Joaquin Valley Digitization photo, on the right side
of the photo, the tracks radiate continuously from the turntable pit to the
right of the roundhouse. But notice that in the photo of the Los Angles
roundhouse on pg. 15 of "The Southern Pacific in Los Angeles," there is an
interuption in the tracks due to what is apparently a little park to the
right of the roundhouse. This park can also be seen in the photo of the LA
roundhouse on the bottom of pg. 50 of Signor's Tehachapi book (a photo
possibly taken in the
1880s).

I've seen a photo identified as the Tulare roundhouse at the museum in the
city of Tulare. It might be the same one as on the San Joaquin Valley
Digitization website but I have this vague feeling it may be a different
photo (I could be wrong). One photo they do have at the Tulare museum that
is definitely incorrectly labeled is a photo supposedly of the interior of
the Tulare shops but actually is inside a massive brick and iron building.
On the original photo, one can see another massive brick and iron building
just outside the doors. Tulare never had anything of this magnitude, just
mainly two small shop buildings that were readily moved to Mendota and
Fresno after the shops closed, so the photo may have been taken at
Sacramento, assuming it was even on the SP in the first place.

Surviving engines built by the Central Pacific

"State officials want to hear from the public on which Virginia & Truckee Railroad locomotive should be displayed in Virginia City. ... the "Dayton" was built at the Central Pacific Engine Works in Sacramento and first operated on the legendary V&T line in 1873, traveling regularly to Virginia City. ... it’s one of only two surviving engines built by the Central Pacific."